Team Herald
PONDA: Ponda Police have arrested two individuals in connection with separate cheating cases involving the false promise of government jobs.
In the first case, Prakash Mukund Rane was apprehended at Sindhunagar Colony, Curti. He is accused of cheating Usha alias Shital Shridhar Ashwekar from Ashwem-Mandrem, along with three others— Santosh Surya Govenkar, Pooja Sitaram Khorjuvekar, and Sushma Gawas—out of a total of Rs 40 lakh. According to the complaint filed at Ponda Police Station, Rane allegedly induced the complainants between 2021 and 2022 at TNK in Patto, Panjim, with the promise of government jobs. Instead, he misappropriated the funds for personal gain and failed to refund the money. The case has been registered under sections 403 and 420 of the IPC and has been transferred to Panjim police for further investigation.
In a separate incident, Sagar Suresh Naik, a police constable from Haveli-Curti, was arrested for allegedly cheating Trupti Rudresh Prabhu of Rs 15 lakh under the pretext of securing a government school teacher job. The complaint, filed on September 2 this year, claims that Prabhu was defrauded of the amount in cash and through online transactions in October 2022. Naik has been charged under section 420 of the IPC.
Authorities revealed that Naik had been declared a deserter from active service as of August 7, this year. Despite several notices served under section 35 of the BNSS, he failed to appear at the police station. Naik had applied for anticipatory bail, but the application remains pending before the court. He is also facing charges in a previous case registered at Ponda Police Station, which is currently under trial.
Additionally, in a similar scam, Pooja Naik was arrested by Mardol police for cheating a Curti-based citizen out of Rs 14 lakh. Five luxury cars were seized from her as part of the investigation.